PrePub - Ascendance of a Bookworm

Wow soo much to talk about...

At first I was surprised that they would mention Rozemyne's move to the Sovereignty in a letter to Ferdinand, but I guess that won't matter anymore now.

I was quite surprised that Rozemyne was able to see Detlinde. Since she's not physically present, I would have expected her to only see things through mana and thus be unable to see anything of Detlinde, that is covered by silver cloth. It would have been... interesting if Rozemyne only saw two hovering hands and only heard Detlinde. ^^ I guess this magic somehow taps into the senses of the other person, rather than solely relying on mana. Or it's an oversight by the author.

There is one piece of good news: We know for near enough certain that an antidote exists. Detlinde said the poison was acting instantly and was airborn, so Letizia would have been hit by it too, but is clearly not affected. And neither was Detlinde, when she threw the second dose at Ferdinand. I suspect they slipped Letizia the antidote inside a hard candy, so she would survive to be used as a scape-goat. Detlinde probably didn't anticipate Letizia giving some of those to Ferdinand and send some to Rozemyne through, which means that they might already be in the possession of the antidote. Or maybe Ferdinand even discovered that the hard candy contained the antidote and it was exactly that, which he slipped in his mouth, but it just takes a couple of mintues to do it's work. So in theory it's entirely possible Ferdinand will already be out and about by the time the rescue arrives, albeit with being stuck in schtappe sealing braclelets, there's only so much he can do. But hey, at least he already managed to get at least some Ahrensbach nobles on his side, who might then hide him from Georgine.

But if he is truly knocked out and incapable of escaping the replenishment hall by himself, there would be another way than stealing Ahrensbach#s foundation: Letizia. Yes, she is not strong enough to drag him out by herself and can't get anyone other person into the hall either, but she can bring objects. Objects like a rope for example! Tie one end around Ferdinand's hip and leave the other side outside the room and they can just drag Ferdinand out. Not the most elegant of solutions, but who cares about that when it comes to saving a life.

Were Rozemyne to successfully take over the foundation however, this is essentially a dream come true for the royal family. They dearly want to execute Detlinde already, but had to delay it until Letizia becomes Aub, since without a Grutrissheit, they have no way to pass the duchy's foundation on to another person. But Rozemyne has no intention of keeping it, meaning they can pick whoever they wish as the new Aub Ahrensbach and then have Rozemyne transfer the position over, freeing them up to do whatever they wish with Detlinde.

It might even mollify the losing duchies of the civil war, to see someone from the victorious faction being punished by the king, since it'd reinforce that the purge was done for justice and to protect the future of the country, rather than petty revenge (in truth it was petty revenge, primarily driven by Klassenberg, but it's the public perception that counts here, not the actual facts...). It will also show that he hasn't grown soft and thus serves as a warning for any future wanna-be rebel.